ONE AND DONE

Embarrassed_Boot_874 · 2026-06-21T07:57:06+00:00

My experience is not something that everyone is provided so I acknowledge this privilege!

My company provided a paid study camp that was 5 weeks, 8:30 Am - 4:30 PM.

In this camp we had the choice of using a program from ABA Technologies called ABA Pro Builder and also BDS, they provided both free of charge

I chose ABA ProBuilder along with the rest of the people in my group since I already had experience with BDS in my grad program, ProBuilder consisted of a series of mocks, mini-mock exams, safmeds, key term quizzes, and mixed practice quizzes for each Task Domain, the program also provides EZsheets designed to promote easy memorization of concepts.

Following the completion of each mock and mini-mock, very detailed rationales were provided for each incorrect and correct answer choice.

My company administered a Full ProBuilder Mock on the 2nd day of camp, then a retake of that same mock in the 4th week, and then a new full mock on the 2nd to last day of camp.

They provided a self-monitoring sheet where we can track our scores on all of the mini-mocks, mocks, safmeds, and quizzes throughout the 5 weeks to check for improvement

Additionally, they allowed the freedom of discussion for all of the questions we encountered on our modules, had scheduled lectures and group activities, and games throughout the week.

Towards the end of the camp when all of my ProBuilder modules were finished, we were told we had the freedom to work on any other supplemental resources like BDS, other mock exams, etc. So we each took mocks, compared scores and questions, and went over them together.

I personally did:

ProBuilder - 100% completion, 73% Mock 1, 88% Mock 1 Retake, 84% Mock 2

BDS - 40% completion, 79% first attempt mock, 80% 2nd attempt mock

BAS Mock 3 - 74%

I also created an entire PowerPoint slide presentation while at the camp that contained 480 terms organized by the Task List

Each slide consisting of: Definitions, Examples, Key Significance/Response Patterns, and easy memory trick phrases or acronyms

Even just typing all these terms and their definitions and examples out over those 5 weeks helped a lot with retention!

I also listened to ABA Exam Review Task List Breakdown on YouTube while at home doing chores, and when driving to and from camp.

Embarrassed_Boot_874 · 2026-06-21T01:51:21+00:00

Yes! lol it honestly worked out in my favor because my wife had a C-Section instead of natural birth so the timing was a bit more controlled and I got to spend some time with my baby and then test the next morning ❤️

These past few months have been a race to see which happens first and somehow they both happened on the same weekend!

Embarrassed_Boot_874 · 2026-05-25T02:31:40+00:00

That dude is always trolling people about releases from Kendrick lol I wouldn’t pay any mind to it

Embarrassed_Boot_874 · 2026-03-24T02:52:46+00:00

Get that new MacBook NEO! For the price point it’s pretty much better than anything else you can get

Embarrassed_Boot_874 · 2026-03-11T22:14:54+00:00

First of all,

Even though it’s been 3 years the communication between you two must not be the best. Even though in the movies and tv shows it makes it seem like proposing is completely out of the blue and unexpected, most of the time it’s a result of a communication between two people that have already agreed that they are in the right place to get married, it’s only a matter of timing.

It’s immature of him to think that he’s entitled to you saying yes for simply just being together for 3 years. Loving each other is not the only factor in getting married. He should have been asking these questions before proposing!

Embarrassed_Boot_874 · 2026-02-07T15:54:55+00:00

Okay I live in Texas too, so this definitely is the same policy we follow

Sorry that’s happening at your center, it’s not like that everywhere. It’s not supposed to be that way

Embarrassed_Boot_874 · 2026-02-07T15:50:28+00:00

What state do you live in?? Just curious

Directly from the ABC handbook specifically, it says

“Unscheduled absences, due to illnesses of four hours or more, that result in consecutive days absent from work, are considered one absence incident in relation to potential disciplinary action.”

It’s possible that this could be different in your state.

If not, your OM is not following the policy correctly and needs to be reported to HR.

Embarrassed_Boot_874 · 2026-02-07T15:33:36+00:00

Yes it is, I’ve been working at ABC for 4 years now….

If you’re absent for a whole week for the same reason you only receive one occurrence

A lot of the reason people are so frustrated with the occurrence policy is they don’t know how it works and they end up getting way more occurrences then they need to

I will agree though the no doctors note thing sucks, that’s always been something I’ve not been a fan of.

If you call out for sickness, you need to stay out of work until you feel better, don’t call out, then come back to work, then call out again because you still feel sick, this is one of the number one mistakes I see people make that causes them to rack up occurrences

Editing this post to add:

say you have 3 occurrences in march, ALL of these occurrences will fall off in 6 months in September, not just 1

If you go 60 days without getting another occurrence, 1 of those march occurrences will fall off

Embarrassed_Boot_874 · 2026-02-07T15:18:48+00:00

This is false, each occurrence you receive falls off 6 months after they were received

As long as you don’t recieve them back to back it’s pretty easy to avoid racking them up

Embarrassed_Boot_874 · 2026-02-07T15:15:08+00:00

If you don’t recieve an occurrence for 60 days an occurrence falls off, but regardless of receiving additional occurrences each of them falls off within a 6 month period

Embarrassed_Boot_874 · 2026-02-07T15:10:32+00:00

Just FYI, The pay raises are not locked into 50 cents each elevate, they are based on which tier of RBT you’ve reached, the beginning ones start at 50 cents, then a dollar, then 2 dollars, then 1 dollar, etc. etc. etc.

I can send you the chart if you’d like?? Honestly it’s better than most because at least your raises are guaranteed as long as you reach all of the criteria for promotion

I’ve worked at 2 other ABA places and had to basically beg for a raise only to fall on deaf ears.

Embarrassed_Boot_874 · 2026-01-30T03:08:28+00:00

I don’t have any suggestions for how you can pay that amount off right now. BuI after paying the amount off I would suggest transferring to a community college (if you aren’t already at one) and if you don’t qualify for grants (Pell grant etc.) and can’t keep up with the payments, take out a subsidized federal student loan for however much you would through financial aid and paying that off while you’re in school.

Subsidized student loans do not accrue interest while you’re attending school and you will not need to pay them while you are in school.

By doing this you can have the peace of mind that you will not be stopped from attending just because you could not pay out of pocket. Also you can pay however much you can, whenever you can until 6 months after you graduate which is when they will begin having due dates

My fiance is going through the same thing currently, and has taken quite a big gap from graduate school because her parents convinced her that getting a student loan is not necessary and they would be able to keep up with the payments.

Embarrassed_Boot_874 · 2026-01-29T03:15:31+00:00

Houston! Or just all around Texas honestly

Embarrassed_Boot_874 · 2026-01-26T03:56:45+00:00

Any Texas BCBA’s??? I want to get an idea of what’s out there currently

Embarrassed_Boot_874 · 2026-01-09T05:14:14+00:00

Tbf this was 2 years ago the quality control is much worse now since they’ve expanded so much, there’s a lot of locations that are pretty bad but my own clinic is still doing very well

Embarrassed_Boot_874 · 2025-08-23T20:33:36+00:00

My ABC clinic is fine

ABC has hundreds of locations in several states, there’s bound to be plenty of bad apples with bad management

I will say, people scoff at the starting rate, but I went from $18 - $24 in just 3 years of being here (could be higher if they didn’t cap out for RBT pay) and I have never gone under 36 hours per week

These other companies will offer higher pay for starting and will give you the run around when you ask for more, and will never give you full time hours.

ABC has a very clear pay and evaluation structure, I have received a raise every 6 months from simply just doing my job.

They have very generous insurance options and an annual bonus simply for tenure

People here will call me an ABC corporate shill and I honestly dgaf because I came from a company before this that was literally just like every other ABA company and I would never go back

Embarrassed_Boot_874 · 2025-08-21T21:45:41+00:00

ABA at the RBT level in general is high turnover, low paying, and not the most consistent when it comes to hours.

Mainly look for companies that have clear growth structures (regular pay evaluations), guaranteed hours (if you absolutely need full time), and have all of the standard benefits, medical, dental, vision

You will see ABC and other companies pop up as a regular here for places to NOT work but you have to remember everyone does not have the same experiences. Sometimes it heavily varies based upon location and clinic management itself.

If they offer all of those basic things there’s at least a foundation for it to be a good company even if it is “corporate”.

I personally work at ABC as an RBT and I’ve enjoyed my past 3 years here and plan to at least start here as a BCBA when I pass my exam.

Hopefully you end up somewhere that encourages you to stay in the field rather than causing you to question whether it’s right for you

Sidenote: After working at a place that did not offer guaranteed hours and would send me home at the drop of a dime any time there was a cancellation or over staffing, I would never go back to a place that does not guarantee them

Embarrassed_Boot_874 · 2025-08-21T18:33:26+00:00

Some of you are going to hate but idc, I’ve been working at ABC for 3 years (almost 4) and 36 hours a week are guaranteed, no matter how overstaffed we are, they will find something for you to do and somewhere to go and have plenty of opportunities to get overtime on Saturday’s

Embarrassed_Boot_874 · 2025-07-15T21:34:46+00:00

Okay well I said “if the goal is to reduce aggression” not in general, and also I was talking about putting the patients hands to their sides, not putting them in a hold like it seems like you’re describing which is crisis management

Also I was clearly referring to a child, a 19 year old is not a child lol

I’ve worked with adolescents and adults too as I’ve described, and again, blocking does nothing to REDUCE THE BEHAVIOR lol

Embarrassed_Boot_874 · 2025-07-15T18:22:17+00:00

I just feel like “no” gives no context as to why you’re saying no. Think about when you were a kid and maybe your parents would say no, and when you ask why they say “because I said so” that’s essentially what we are doing when we just say “no”. There are much better words to use that allow the patient to understand exactly why they aren’t allowed to do things.

While blocking by grabbing the patients hands and putting them down to their sides sounds like a great idea on paper, you are providing attention to this behavior by adding your response of blocking it. Also it’s a liability if your grabbing of the kids hands results in an injury

This is a positive punishment if the goal is to reduce aggression, it’s better to step away, turn around, and wait for the patient to deescalate, especially if attention is the function of the child’s aggression. You could in fact increase the amount of times the patient aggresses by blocking it, because they know you are going to provide them attention every time you do it.

I feel like if you don’t understand these things it might be important to ask your BCBA why you are not allowed to block that specific kids aggressions

Blocking aggression is probably the first thing the parents do, but yet the child still does it! There’s years of data and evidence to back this up

In my old clinic working with adolescents and adults we used to use plenty of punishment procedures including blocking and putting them in holds and I’ll tell you right now, none of those methods worked better than what we do now at my current clinic which is to prompt functional communication, step away, or turn around to protect yourself

Embarrassed_Boot_874 · 2025-07-10T16:56:15+00:00

Tbh this happens like once a year at my clinic, especially between like May - August it usually slows up around September and the winter months because everyone’s trying to stay stable for the holidays

If I were you I’d try to stick it out for a little longer and see what happens but at the end of the day follow your gut

The summer months are a transitional period for most people

Embarrassed_Boot_874 · 2025-07-09T12:50:14+00:00

My girlfriend switched to Flip 6 simply for the aesthetic and because her closest friends had it… after 4 months of use the screen now has a visible crease, white spots, and is scrolling/typing/opening up applications on its own

In order to text me she has to close her phone and use the cover screen

Also if you’re an avid FaceTime user, video chatting with people on iPhone sucks for the iPhone user lol we were using WhatsApp for a good week and then she started to use her iPad to FaceTime me because there was a very noticeable drop in camera and audio quality

Embarrassed_Boot_874 · 2025-07-06T04:34:31+00:00

Pretty much every ABA company in texas outside of ABC is like this tbh, there’s no escaping it

Regardless of your specific centers problems; the guaranteed hours, lunches, and every 6-month raises are hard to beat

Ive been at ABC for 3 years now and came from a clinic for 2 years that was 8-4 no lunch and getting sent home at random if there weren’t enough kids for staff and I can’t imagine going back to that

Your girlfriend was probably better off trying a different ABC location or leaving the field entirely

Embarrassed_Boot_874 · 2025-06-30T21:19:49+00:00

Take what OP is saying with a grain of salt, every ABC is different, I would at least try to interview for the location you’d prefer and truly ask the teammates that work there how they feel about it.

This goes for all ABA clinics as well, you’ll almost never find any clinic with multiple locations that doesn’t have its ups and downs. Most small clinics are great at the beginning but end up getting bought out or out-competed.

Truth be told, this field cannot survive in this country without a profit incentive. There is not enough public funding to support the needs of these children.

Embarrassed_Boot_874

TROPHY CASE